Saudi Gazette report
MADINAH — A women’s college closed down temporarily after a student fainted out of suffocation of smoke from a nearby empty land, Makkah newspaper reported.
Madinah Civil Defense spokesman Col. Khalid Al-Jehani said the Civil Defense received reports of heavy smoke coming out of an empty piece of land east of Madinah near King Salman Road which leads to the airport.
“The smoke is the result of piled up waste in the empty piece of land. The Civil Defense has forwarded the incident to the municipality in order to find solutions to the problem,” said Al-Jehani.
Abdulaziz Al-Thubaiti said he lives in Al-Eskan District which is 15 km away from the junkyard.
“We noticed that a strong smell similar to the smell of burning sulfur started coming out of air conditioners when they were turned on. The smell occurred a week ago and it became stronger during the past two days,” said Al-Thubaiti.
Bashayir Al-Harbi said she studies in Al-Bayan Private College right next to the empty piece of land. “The smell and the smoke coming out of the land has affected us greatly. My friend passed out last week and the college administration gave us a holiday as advised by the Civil Defense,” said Al-Harbi.
Madinah Municipality reported that it has cooperated with the pertinent directorates to solve the problem. The municipality will demolish the piece of land and remove all the waste to prevent smoke from leaking into neighboring buildings.
Saudi Geological Survey President Zuhair Nawab said the smoke is the result of compressed waste.
“When waste is discarded in these empty lands and compressed after time it develops the methane gas which is an inflammable gas. It has happened before in Makkah a year ago where an area filled with methane caught fire after a spark of lit in the place,” said Nawab.
Historian Fahd Al-Wahbi said there was an active volcano east of Madinah during the 13th century.
“The area was called Hurrat Waqim. Qanat Valley goes through that area. There was a volcano that lasted three months. The lava from the volcano cascaded down Qanat Valley and blocked it. After a number of years, a lake formed where the valley got blocked and the water level increased benefiting the agriculture,” said Al-Wahbi.
Chest diseases doctor Ahmad Nabeel said warm gases coming out of the earth do affect the health of people.
“The amount and type of damage these gases can inflict on human health depends on the type of gas and whether it is poisonous or not, the type of exposure to the gas and whether it was direct exposure or indirect exposure, the duration of exposure and whether it was continuous or not and whether the person who was exposed to the gas had any diseases or not,” said Nabeel.
